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THE 



METRIC SYSTEM 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



J. PICKERING PUTNAM. 



aXKoc 



X" 



NEW YORK: A 

PUBLISHED BY HURD & HOUGHTON 

(Cambridge. 

1874. 









Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

J. Pickering Putnam, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Rockwell & Churchill, Printers and Stereotype™, 
122 Washington Street, Boston. 



CONTENTS. 



OCj^M 

PAGE 

Preface 5 

Establishment op Ststem in Germany 9 

Early History of System .13 

Origin in Erance ........... 17 

Its Adoption by the Majority op Nations 21 

Reform in England . . 22 

Progress in United States 24 

Action op the People — Circular . 24 

Memorials to Congress 29 

Other Influences tending towards its Early Introduction in 

the United States .30 

American Metrolooical Society . . . . . .32 

Prediction of John Quincy Adams 32 

Advantages of the Metric System — 

I. Uniformity 33 

II. Simplicity. ■. 34 

III. Unalterability 36 

IV. Decimal Denominations 37 

V. Units of weight, volume and capacity mutually relative . . 38 

VI. Nomenclature expressive of values , . . . . .41 

Objections considered 42 

System of Instruction adopted in Germany . . . .55 

Orthography and Nomenclature 58 

Tables of Reduction — 

I. Legalized by the United States 59 

II. Complete Table of Reduction (with Logarithms) arranged alpha- 
betically 61 

3 



THE METRIC* OR DECIMAL SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS 

AND MEASURES. 



«0» 



PREFACE 



" The great utility of a standard, fixed in its nature, and founded 
on the easy rule of decimal proportions, is sufficiently obvious. It 
led the government, at an early stage, to preparatory steps for 
introducing it ; and a completion of the work will be a just title to 
the public gratitude.'" — Madison, Annual Message of 1816. 

Washington felt the great importance of a "standard at once 
invariable and universal," and earnestly recommended it to the 
attention of the first Congress of the United States. 

Jefferson desired to reduce "every branch to the same decimal 
ratio already established in coins, and thus bring the calculation of 
the principal affairs of life within the arithmetic of every man who 
can multiply and divide plain numbers." 

John Quincy Adams says of the Metric System: "Considered 
merely as a labor-saving machine, it is a new power offered to man 
incomparably greater than that which he has acquired by the new 
agency which he has given to steam. It is in design the greatest 
invention of human ingenuity since that of printing." 

It is not proposed here to defend the Metric System. It needs 
no defence. Since these great statesmen lived, and many others 
might be quoted, it has been adopted by the majority of nations, 
and seems destined very soon to become universal. If, however, 
like everything else that is useful, it has its enemies, these will be 
found to be principally composed of men who professedly do not 
know what it is. We hear it said, " I do not like these innovations ; 

* Metric and meter (the linear unit of measure = about 3.28 feet, or 3 ft. 3| in.) are 
derived from the Greek word " met/ron" which signifies " measure." 



VI PREFACE. 

I prefer old institutions;" or, "I cannot advocate what I do not 
understand ; " or, " I have no doubt It is a very good thing, and cer- 
tainly a very important thing, but, at my time of life, and using the 
weights and measures as little as I do, it will be of no advantage to 
me to attempt to reform the world ; " or, again, " We get along well 
enough with our present system ; why trouble ourselves to change ? " 
So, before the invention of printing, men thought they got along 
well enough with pens. They did not trouble themselves about 
electricity as a means of communication until the electric telegraph 
was invented. Indifference is the greatest enemy to progress, for 
every man knows that it is his duty to promote the general welfare 
as far as lies in his power. And, in regard to the personal advan- 
tages to individuals to be derived from the use of the new system, 
we hope to show that there is no man, whatever be his age or posi- 
tion, who will not be more or less benefited by the change. There 
is, however, another class of opponents, much smaller than the first, 
though no less formidable. It is composed of those who admit the 
advantages of the new system to be immense, and who believe that 
it must sooner or later supplant the old, but who dread the practical 
difficulties of the transition, and, fearing individual inconveniences, 
oppose the roform through short-sighted selfishness. For these, 
therefore, as well as for those who have not as yet given the subject 
the attention it has so eminently the right to claim, the following 
pages are written. 

The reform, which the United States has already begun, has just 
been successfully accomplished (in 1872) by Germany. Let us profit 
by her experience. By observing what difficulties she had to en- 
counter, and how they were met by the public, we may judge of 
what we must ourselves expect. If the immediate introduction of 
the new system was attended with results disastrous to commerce 
and manufacture, we may look for similar troubles at home, and be 
on our guard against them. But if, on the contrary, the transition 
was effected easily and rapidly, and without interruption to business, 
or great personal inconvenience on the part of the public, we may 
take courage, and, by acting vigorously and simultaneously, render 
success in our case also certain. 

For our information on this subject, we must look to those who 
have made careful observation, on the spot, of the manner in which 
the new system was received in Germany at the time of its general 
introduction to the exclusion of all others, especially by the me- 
chanics, manufacturers and builders, and all who make immediate 
practical use of the weights and measures. 



PREFACE. VII 

In view of what has already been so ably written on the Metric 
System of Weights and Measures for use in the United States, espe- 
cially by Dr. F. A. P. Barnard, LL.D., of Columbia College, Pres- 
ident of the American Metrological Society, whose very interesting 
work, published in 1872, may be considered the most complete and 
exhaustive treatise ever written on the subject, we should not have 
ventured to add anything had we not felt that professional interest in 
a subject so intimately connected with the practice of architecture, and 
our experience in Germany, at the time of its introduction there, 
when the observations above referred to, in regard to its reception 
by the people, were made on the spot, might perhaps be turned to 
some account in throwing light upon the subject at home. 

All we pretend, therefore, is to present, in a form compact enough 
to be within the reach of everybody, some of those facts, a knowl- 
edge of which cannot fail to make every thinking man an admirer 
of the system and an advocate for the important reform ; a knowl- 
edge which has already led a majority of the civilized inhabitants of 
the globe to join hands by adopting it in common. 

For those who desire to become more thoroughly familiar with the 
subject of the Metric System in all its bearings, and who are inter- 
ested in the equally important subject of a universal coinage, we 
refer to the above-mentioned book of Dr. Barnard, whom we have 
frequently quoted in the following pages, and whose earnest and 
untiring labors with those of his eminent co-operators in the Amer- 
ican Metrological Society, in behalf of the reform, seem destined 
soon to be rewarded by the sight of the American people in full 
enjoyment of the new system, and learning to appreciate, in a meas- 
ure, the extent and value of their endeavors. 

Many thanks are also returned to Mr. J. E. Hilgard, of the United 
States Coast Survey, for information in regard to the latest opera- 
tions of the International Metric Commission, to which he is delegate 
from the United States, and for assistance in the preparation of 
the Illustrated Chart. Also to Professors Benjamin Pierce, E. C. 
Pickering, J. P. Cooke, Jr. r and E. P. Seaver. 

J. Pickering Putnam. 
Apeil 9, 1874. 

4 Penrberton Bq Boston. 



The following simple tables give all that there is in the Metric or Decimal Sys- 
tem of Weights and Measures :— 



10 mills 
10 conts 
10 climes 
10 dollars 



10 milli-meters 
10 centi-meters 
10 deci-meters 
10 meters . 
10 deka-meters 
10 hecto-meters 
10 kilo-meters 

10 milli-grams 
10 centi-grams 
10 deci-grams 
10 grams 
10 deka-grams 
10 hecto-grams 
10 kilo-grams 

10 milli-liters 
10 centi-liters 
10 deci-liters 
10 liters 
10 deka-liters 



MONEY. 



LENGTH. 



WEIGHTS. 



CAPACITY. 



make a cent, 
make a dime, 
make a dollar, 
mako an eagle. 



make a 
mako a 
make a 
make a 
mako a 
make a 
make a 

make a 
make a 
make a 
mako a 
make a 
mako a 
make a 



centimeter. 

decimeter. 

meter. 

dekameter. 

hectometer. 

kilometer. 

myriameter. 

centigram. 

decigram. 

gram. 

dekagram. 

hectogram. 

kilogram. 

myriagram. 



make a centiliter, 
mako a deciliter, 
make a liter, 
mako a dekaliter, 
make a hectoliter. 



THE SQUARE AND CUBIC MEASURES 

are nothing more than the squares and cubes of the measures of length. (Thus a 
square and a cubic milli-meter are the square and the cube of which one side is a 
milli-meter in length.) The are and stere are other names for the square deka- 
meter and the cubic meter. 

" In this brief space you bohold the whole Metric System of Weights and Meas- 
ures. What a contrast to tho anterior confusion! A boy at school can master the 
Motric System in an afternoon. Months,, if not years, are required to store away 
tho perplexities, incongruities and inconsistences of tho existing weights and 
measures, and then memory must often fail in reproducing them. The mystery of 
compound arithmetic is essential in tho calculations which they require. All this 
is dono away by tho decimal progression, so that tho first four rules of arithmetic 

are ample for tho pupil." 

CnARLES SUMNER. 



THE METRIC SYSTEM 



OP 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



-o^< 



ITS FINAL ESTABLISHMENT IN GERMANY, TO THE 
EXCLUSION OF ALL OTHER SYSTEMS. 

When, in 1872, the German Empire joined rauks with 
the ever-increasing majority of nations using the Metric 
System, several excellent pamphlets were there published 
for the purpose of enlightening the general public as to 
its advantages, and giving some ingenious devices for 
familiarizing them rapidly with the metric values. 

Now that a vigorous movement is being made simul- 
taneously throughout the United States for promoting its 
practical introduction here, the need is more than ever 
felt for some such popular treatise to facilitate the work 
and to help remove an opposition to it like that which the 
first introduction of any valuable institution or discovery 
is sure to encounter whenever any change for the better 
is required in the existing order of things. 
- The new system is, however, rapidly gaining ground, 
and each year finds new adherents to the cause, as one 
after another the most enlightened nations awake to the 
full appreciation of its immense advantages. 

" The rising generation will embrace it, and ever after- 
wards number it among the choicest possessions of an 
advanced civilization." — Charles Sumner, 



10 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

Before the reform, the system used by Germany was 
similar to ours, so that from her experience we may fairly 
judge of what Ave must expect. It is true the Germans 
are a well-educated and thinking people, and, as might 
he expected, learned to appreciate at once the advantages 
of a system based on purely scientific principles ; but the 
Americans are also an intelligent people, and we feel con- 
vinced that, when the subject shall have been fairly brought 
up before their minds, they will be no less active than 
the Germans in possessing themselves of a machine so 
saving of time, trouble and money. Congress has already 
(in 1866) legalized the use of the Metric System, and is 
now distributing the standard metric weights and measures 
among the several States, but this body is not likely to go 
further in the matter by rendering its use obligatory until 
called upon to do so by the people themselves. Situated 
as we are, so distant from the majority of those countries 
which use the Metric System, the public at large does not 
feel directly the loss it actually sustains, especially in 
commerce, on account of this difference of systems. It 
falls, in the first instance, upon the Custom House and 
the wholesale dealers in foreign goods and upon our 
exports, but is ultimately divided, of course, among the 
public, or actual consumers of these goods, without their 
knowing anything about it. 

This partly accounts for our being so much behind the 
rest of the world in our delay to complete the process 
of metric reform we began in 18 6 6.* 

* "In addition to the law authorizing the use of the Metric System, the 
Secretary of the Treasury has been directed to furnish to tiie Governor of 

each State one set of the Standard weights and measures of the Metric Sys- 
tem for the use of the States respectively, and, further, the Postmaster 
General has been directed to furnish to the post-offices exchanging mails 

with foreign countries, and to such other offices RS lie shall think expedi- 
ent, postal balances denominated in grains, of the Metric System; and, un- 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES . 11 

Of the imports and exports of the United States for 
1860, which amounted in all to 762,000,000 dollars, the 
amount of nearly 700,000,000 dollars was with nations 
and their dependencies which had authorized, or taken the 
preliminary steps to authorize, the Metric System. This 
was before Germany had adopted it. 

The new system was at first received by the public in 
Germany, as was to be expected, in very different ways. 
Some were indifferent ; others considered it as an alto- 
gether unnecessary innovation, from which only a thousand 
inconveniences and disadvantages to trade and manufac- 
ture would result ; others, however, and by far the great- 
est number, composed of the most intelligent and 
enlightened of the people, looked upon the reform as a 
necessary result of the general advance of civilization, 
from which the greatest blessings were to be derived in 
the end, and applied themselves with corresponding zeal 
to secure this good, in order to realize from it as early as 
possible the numerous advantages they anticipated. 

In a very short time, however, as the beauty and sim- 
plicity of the new system began to be generally under- 
stood, those belonging to the first two classes rapidly 
diminished in numbers, until finally few grumblers were 
to be found left. The sturdiest antagonist to innovation, 
prompted at first by what seemed to be a kind of patriotic 
feeling of allegiance to what is established, handed down 
from their fathers, and inculcated by education, began to 

til otherwise provided by law, one half ounce Avoirdupois is to be deemed 
and taken for postal purposes as the equivalent of fifteen grams of the 
metric weights; and so adopted in progression, and the rates of postage 
are to be applied accordingly." Thus the first step was takeu toward the 
final establishment of the Metric System in the United States. The Presi- 
dent was also authorized to appoint a special commissioner to facilitate 
the adoption of one uniform coinage between the United States and foreign 
countries. 



12 THE METRIC SYSTEM OP 

yield finally to the general advance of the times, and to 
see that to reject the new system solely on the ground of 
its novelty, was to attempt to arrest the progress of civil- 
ization itself, and to maintain that no man should add 
anything to his present stock of knowledge that involved 
the abandonment of old ideas and exploded theories. 

The immediate practical difficulties to making the change 
were represented as far more formidable than they actually 
proved to be in execution, where a simultaneous effort was 
made throughout the country. Thus it was objected that 
the lumbermen, the hardware, brick, and other manufac- 
turers, who worked to feet and inches, would greatly suf- 
fer. Experience shows us, however, that this fear was 
greatly exaggerated. Every man had only his small share 
of the reform to sustain, and each was aided by his neigh- 
bor, so that everything went with astonishing smoothness 
and ease, and the manufacturers soon began to appreciate 
the advantages of a system which so greatly facilitated all 
their calculations, and advanced the interests of commerce, 
both foreign and domestic. In some cases the gauges 
were slightly altered to suit the new measures, and in 
others the old forms were retained, where the new metric 
values could be applied to them without the inconvenience 
of retaining too small fractions. In many cases it was 
found that instead of the expected inconvenience, a great 
convenience was experienced from the change at the very 
outset. In the case of the brick manufacture, for ex- 
ample, great annoyance was expected here, because the 
three dimensions were intended to measure even inches. 
The result, however, proved to be exactly the reverse ; 
to architects and builders, the importance of which can 
scarcely be overestimated. It was this. Previous to the 
reform in the different German States, the dimensions of 
bricks varied as much as the different systems of measures 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 13 

themselves. The result was an inconvenience, the extent 
of which only the practical architect and builder can 
realize. Immediately upon the introduction of the Metric 
System, every brick-yard in Germany was obliged to 
shape its bricks after a uniform pattern, to the immense 
relief of the consumers. 6 cm. (centimeters) X 12 cm. X 24 
cm. (25 cm. mortar included) is now the universal 
measure of bricks in Germany. The same difficulty 
overcome by the Germans still holds us in bondage. 
No two brick-yards turn out the same sized bricks, and 
accuracy in the estimate of cost and artistic effect is im- 
possible, even at the. expense of infinite labor. Good 
fortune permitting, we shall be relieved of this incon- 
venience, and adopt, it is to be hoped, for the sake of uni- 
formity, the same figures for our bricks just adopted by 
the Germans. 

What difficulty will be encountered at first in our home 
manufactures will be offset by convenience in our imports 
and exports, where we deal with countries using the Metric 
System. 

EARLY HISTORY, CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE FINAL 
ADOPTION OF THE METRIC SYSTEM. 

In the earliest stages of civilization and among savages 
commerce is conducted in the form of barter, or, if some 
conventional standard of weights and measures is adopted, 
it has no scientific method, but is the result of accident or 
caprice. Such is the system now used in the United States. 
The accurate calculation of relative values being thus ren- 
dered exceedingly laborious, when not actually impossible, 
commerce is immensely injured, though often without the 
knowledge of the majority of those concerned, and an in- 
credible amount of time and money is lost. But where 



14 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

these clumsy tables differ from each other in every State, 
or where even for the same place several different tables 
are used for the same purpose, as with our Avoirdupois, 
Troy and Apothecary's tables, for weighing solid bodies, 
the confusion and difficulty become so great, that in most 
cases the attempt at accurate calculation is given up in 
practice altogether. 

Apothecaries compound their medicines by one table, 
and sell them by another ; bread is sold by a third table, or 
Troy weight ; butter by Avoirdupois. Our gallon could 
confuse the clearest head. There are thirty-two gallons 
in a barrel of cider, thirty-one and one-half or thirty-six 
in a barrel of ale or milk, thirty in a barrel of fish, forty- 
two in a tierce of wine, oil, etc., sixtv-three in a hothead 
of wine, fifty-four in a hogshead of beer, eighty-four in a 
puncheon of wine, two in a peck of grain, etc. 

The dry gallon contains the convenient number of two 
hundred and sixty-eight and four-fifths cubic inches ; the 
wine gallon two hundred and thirty-one inches ; and the 
beer gallon tivo hundred and eighty-tivo cubic inches. 

We have barleycorns, furlongs, leagues, lines, points, 
nails, ells, quarters, amies, bushels, coombs, kilderkins, 
puncheons, quarterns, tierces, firkins, hogsheads, minims 
and noggins, scruples and carats, grains and drachms,* 
pennyweights and hundredweights, and innumerable 
others, and nobody knows what they all mean. Whoever 
can walk through this maze of measures with a clear head 
and avoid imposition, is sharper than the majority of men. 

"The ounce, the drachm and the grain, are specific 
names," says John Quincy Adams, "indefinitely applied 
as indefinite parts of an indefinite whole. The English 
pound Avoirdupois is heavier than the pound Troy, but 
the ounce Avoirdupois is lighter than the ounce Troy. 
The weights and measures of all the old systems present 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. * 15 

the perpetual paradox of a whole not equal to all its parts. 
Even numbers lose the definite character which is essential 
to their nature. A dozen become sixteen, twenty-eight 
signify twenty-five, one hundred and twelve mean a hun- 
dred. The indiscriminate application of the same generic 
term to different specific things, and the misapplication 
of one specific term to another specific thing, universally 
pervade all the old systems, and are the inexhaustible 
fountains of diversity, confusion and fraud." 

Dr. Barnard says : "We can easily understand the 
state of things which would exist if we had no public 
standard of weights and measures at all ; and if every 
tradesman made his own system, and sold his customers, 
say so much for so much. This plan is illustrated in 
Diedrich Knickerbocker's account of the dealings of the 
early settlers of the Meuw Netherlands with the Indians : 
f Every Dutchman's hand weighed a pound, and every 
Dutchman's foot weighed two pounds.' The inconven- 
iences and uncertainty of trade would be only a little 
less, if, instead of having as many systems as there are 
tradesmen, we should have as many as there are villages. 
If, for instance, while a man can get on very comfortably 
among his immediate neighbors, he finds himself, on driv- 
ing four or five miles, entirely at sea on the subject of 
quantities, he will be scarcely able to prosecute any busi- 
ness of magnitude without an amount of trouble and con- 
fusion quite intolerable. Enlarge the communities within 
which common systems prevail, and separate them more 
widely from those which employ different systems, and the 
evils which, in the original supposition, embarrassed indi- 
viduals, now affect the transactions which take place be- 
tween these communities. Operations are larger, and 
they are mainly conducted by a particular class ; but the 
misapprehensions, the delays, and the increased expense 



16 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

attendant on these operations are charged, like the cus- 
tom duties, upon the whole community, without their 
being clearly conscious of the fact. Our custom-houses 
and our great importing houses are compelled, by the di- 
versity of weights, measures, and money, with which they 
have to deal, to employ an immense staff of computers, 
whose sole business is to effect transformations of values 
upon the invoices of the commodities which pass through 
their hands ; and the salaries of all these employes are 
undoubtedly paid by the consumers of the commodities." 
When, in 1871, a bill was introduced in the English Par- 
liament to render the use of the Metric System obligatory, 
and was lost only on a very slight minority, Sir Eowland 
Hill stated that England was losing six per cent, on her 
postage alone, with France, and seventeen per cent, on her 
postage with Prussia, in consequence of a want of iden- 
tity in weights- and measures. 

It is a disagreeable thing to make a change in so impor- 
tant an institution as a system of weights and measures ; 
but, for this very reason, if for no other, an end should 
be put to all possibility of change in future by adopting, 
once and for all, a system which is unalterable. 

It has been the world's experience, since the birth of 
civilization, that wherever systems of weights and meas- 
ures are founded upon mere accident or caprice, they have 
undergone perpetual change both by chance and by legis- 
lation ; and this change can only be arrested by the adop- 
tion of a system rendered permanent as well by univer- 
sal adoption among nations as by the scientific prin- 
ciples upon which it is constructed. As an example of 
this perpetual change, to take a single case out of a hun- 
dred similar ones, I have before me the accounts of four 
important changes made in the liquid gallon in England, 
and of a half-a-dozen changes in the bushel. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 17 



ORIGIN OF THE METRIC SYSTEM IN FRANCE. 

The same great confusion, in this respect, existed in 
Irance before her revolution as exists with us now. Feel- 
ing the evil, she set vigorously to work to overcome it, 
and succeeded. It was' the intention of France from the 
beginning to choose such a system that, in the end, every 
other nation would adopt it. This was no small under- 
taking; fo,r a measure must be deduced from some 
unalterable magnitude in nature, which should be equally 
exact for every part of the globe, in order to be equally 
suitable for the use of all nations. 

According to John Quincy Adams, "It is one of 
those attempts to improve the condition of human kind, 
which, should it ever be destined ultimately to fail, 
would, in its failure, deserve little less admiration than 
in its success." 

Several methods of obtaining a fixed natural length were 
considered : — 

1. Length of the pendulum beating seconds. 

2. Distance through which a body falls in the first 
second of its descent. 

3. The one ten millionth part of a quadrant of the 
earth's meridian. 

The length of the pendulum beating seconds could 
never give satisfactory results, because it varied according 
to its distance from the equator. 

For the same reason, and also on account of the difficulty 
of measuring accurately the distance through which a 
body falls during the first second, this method was also 
abandoned. 

The third was therefore adopted as being the one 
supposed to be best fitted to satisfy the requirements of 



18 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

the problem. A trigonometrical measurement of an arc of 
the earth's meridian (extending through France from 
Dunkirk to Barcelona) was instituted, under the direction 
of the most eminent mathematicians of Europe. The 
length of the meridian, thus found in toises, was divided 
into forty million equal parts, and each part called a 
meter. Hence the length of the meter was declared to 
be a certain determinate part of the toise, and the proto- 
type meter was caused to be constructed in platinum by 
the International Commission which met at Paris in 1799, 
and declared to be the definitive base of the Metric Sys- 
tem of Weights and Measures forever. This base has 
never been altered. The subdivision and multiples of 
this length were made on the decimal system, and the 
weight of a cubic centimeter of water at 4° Centigrade, or 
the condition of its greatest density, was adopted as the 
unit of weight, and called a "gram." 

The determining of the unit of weight, which was 
entrusted by the members of the French Academy of Sci- 
ences to Lefevre, Gineau and Fabbroni, led to the impor- 
tant discovery that water was densest, not at the freezing 
point, but at 4° Centigrade above it. Hence the gram is 
equal to the weight of a cubic centimeter of water at 4^ 
Centigrade, and not at the freezing point. 

Although the length of the meter, fixed as a certain 
determinate part of the toise, was based on a careful 
meridian survey occupying seven years, and represented 
the ten-millionth part of the quadrant, it was nevertheless 
clear that no absolutely accurate measurement of the 
earth's meridian, or of its diameter or polar axis, or of 
any other supposedly unalterable dimension, could ever be 
made, and that, moreover, if the standard meter at Paris 
were lost at any time, no second standard exactly like it 
could ever be made to replace it. Accordingly, in 1872, 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 19 

on the 24th of September, the International Metric Com- 
mission, composed of scientific men from all countries 
(the United States included) , met at Paris for the purpose 
of providing against this danger, in case the standard 
meter at Paris were destroyed, and of assuring in the future 
absolute accuracy and unalterability in the standards by 
providing each of the different countries using the Metric 
System an authentic standard to be kept at home, which 
should be exact copies of the prototype meter bar at Paris, 
by being all cast from the same ingot of metal. The 
Convention therefore decided to make a new bar to re- 
place the prototype, out of better material and with a 
better cross section or shape ; and furthermore, that, 
beside this new prototype bar, there should be kept 
always at the International Bureau, or in depositories 
selected by the permanent Commission in charge of the 
bureau, four other similar bars, kept in a temperature as 
little variable as possible, for the purpose of studying the 
effects of time by comparison at intervals, and that still 
another similar bar should be kept at invariable tempera- 
ture and in a vacuum. They even recommended that, for 
farther security, samples be made in quartz and in beryl. 
Each meter bar is to have a cross section which combines 
the figures of the letter X and the letter H, the division 
lines being engraved upon the upper surface of the cross 
division. ( For full-size drawing of this section, see chart.) 
The Convention resolved also that bars of similar form, 
cast from the same ingot of platinum and iridium, in order 
that the expansion, contraction and other modifying influ- 
ences should be the same for all the bars, verified with 
similar care, should be constructed for all nations that 
contributed to* the maintenance of the bureau. Thus in the 
future the metric standards of every country will have the 
same legal authenticity as the prototype standard itself. 



20 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

But as no two bars have ever been made, or ever will be 
made, of exactly the same length, every one of these authen- 
tic copies of the prototype will be accompanied by its certi- 
fied equation, to be always used when derivative bars are 
compared with the standard. The Commission resolved 
that all the meter bars constructed by their order should 
be made from an ingot formed from a single casting, and 
that this ingot should consist of ninety per cent, of platinum 
and ten per cent, of iridium, to give it greater hardness. 
To give any idea of the wonderful care and delicacy with 
which all these operations are now being conducted 
would carry us beyond the limits and intent of this trea- 
tise. Enough to say that all the care and caution that 
modern science can afford is employed to render these 
standards as unalterable and indestructible as any natural 
base itself could be. 

The Commission of Oct. 4th, 1873, decided to melt 
250 kilogs (about 670 lbs. Troy) of platinum and iridium, 
and cast it at one time, in order to secure an ingot of metal 
large enough to make all the standards required. 

They expect to make at least forty-five standard meters 
a trait. Up to October, 1873, twenty-seven had already 
been ordered by different countries, including the United 
States. Thirty-one countries are represented in the Com- 
mission. Besides the meters a trait, as many standard 
kilograms, made in the same manner, and about as many 
metres a bout, have been ordered by the same countries. 
The meter a trait is the standard meter in which the length 
of the unit is represented by two lines engraved upon 
the surface of the rod, one at each end, the rod itself be- 
ing longer than a meter by two centimeters. 

The meter a bout is one in which the rod itself is ex- 
actly one meter long from end to end. 

The construction of these standards is being executed 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 21 

as rapidly as the nature of the work will allow. The 
casting was expected to take place in April, 1874, and 
the whole work will probably be completed by next Octo- 
ber ; and, soon after, a set of these monuments of scientific 
skill and ingenuity will be deposited in the office of 
weights and measures at Washington. It is calculated 
that one hundred and eighty kilograms of metal will make 
about forty meters. Cost of platinum per meter, about 
4,000 francs. 

The length of the meter is determined from the rods 
when encased in ice. 



RAPID PROGRESS OF THE SYSTEM AFTER ITS ADOPTION 
•IN FRANCE IN 1840, TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL OTHER 

SYSTEMS. 

The use of the Metric System was enforced in France, to 
the exclusion of any other system, in 1840 (date of legis- 
lation, 1837). 

After this date other countries followed the example of 
France in rapid succession, until to-day it is used by the 
majority of the civilized and Christian world. "At the 
Universal Exposition of 1867, in Paris," says Dr. Barnard, 
" thirteen measures of length from different countries were 
exhibited under the name of foot, or its equivalent, but 
among these there were only eight values essentially dif- 
ferent ; and two of these were metric. Yet after giving 
some attention to this subject without pretending to ex- 
haust it, I have found more than one hundred foot meas- 
ures, each differing more or less from all the rest in value, 
which have been in use at one time or another at one part 
or another of Europe. Similar remarks might be made 
of the units of weight and capacity. There has, there- 
fore, been large progress made toward uniformity, and the 



22 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

moat important steps and the most significant steps are 
those which have been taken in our century. "We cannot 
suppose that this progress is going to be arrested at the 
point which it has now reached." Alexander, in his dic- 
tionary of weights and measures, gives about two thou- 
sand different names, representing at least five thousand 
different units of weights and measures, which have been 
in use. 

PROGRESS OF THE REFORM LN ENGLAND. 

The system was legalized in Great Britain in 1864 ; and 
judging from the numerous bills brought up since then in 
Parliament, to render it obligatory, success in this directiQn 
seems very near at hand. The first great step of a practical 
nature was taken in 1870, when it was made obligatory 
in British India, with a population of over one hundred 
and fifty millions. The growing weakness of the opposi- 
tion may be judged of by reading some of the objections 
raised to one of the last bills for the compulsory adoption 
of the system in England. Dr. Barnard quotes from the 
London w Guardian " a report of the debate in the House 
of Commons on the bill of 1871 : — 

"Mr. Beresford Hope, in moving the rejection of the 
bill, said that, while he was in favor of uniformity, he 
desired to have English weights and measures, and not 
French ones. The changes proposed by Mr. Smith would 
overthrow all our long-established habits and customs, — 
nay, our very proverbs ; for no one would be able here- 
after to talk about 'giving an inch and taking an ell.' — 
(A laugh.)" 

To which Dr. Barnard remarks, " This latter argument 
of Mr. Beresford Hope is rather more witty than weighty, 
but it is less true than either ; for though the ell (which 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 23 

after all is a French measure) has ceased to be used in 
England for a century or two, the proverb seems to be still 
as lively as ever. As for stigmatizing the Metric System 
as French, it was never quite just to do so, and it is at 
present altogether absurd ; since this system has become 
the system of more than half the civilized world." 

The report continues : — 

" The rejection of the bill was seconded by Mr. Steven- 
son, and was supported by Mr. Scourfield, by Alderman 
Lawrence, who pointed out that the adoption of the litre 
would diminish the poor man's pint of beer without any 
proportionate diminution of price [a surprisingly knowing 
alderman this must have been] , and by Mr. Fothergill. 
Mr. Healey pointed out the inconvenience of having to go 
to a foreign capital for standards, which might at any mo- 
ment be melted down in a general conflagration of the 
city. If agriculturists want a uniform measure, why on 
earth did they not adopt the Imperial bushel ? " 

This last argument, however weighty it might have 
seemed at the time, has lost its force since the Inter- 
national Conference of 1872 met at Paris and caused the 
various standard meters to be made for distribution, as 
above described. 

w The bill was supported by forty-three associated Cham- 
bers of Commerce and Agriculture, by Farmers' Clubs, 
Workingmen's Associations, and many scientific bodies. 
It was supported by the representatives of the largest 
constituencies in the kingdom — Manchester, Liverpool, 
Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham, North Staffordshire, South 
Leicestershire, and South Norfolk. It was opposed, by 
the member for Cambridge University, on the ground that 
the French unit was not a proper unit ; by the astronomer 
Royal and Sir J. Herschel." [Since 1872, again, these ob- 
jections are, of course, all rendered harmless]. "For the 



24 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

Metric System, however, they had the authority of three 
gentlemen who possessed the most extensive scientific 
knowledge, combined with the greatest business knowl- 
edge of this or any other age, — Sir William Armstrong, 
Sir Joseph Whitworth, and Sir William Fairbairn." 

LATE GREAT PROGRESS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Few realize the extent to which the Metric System has 
already been adopted in the United States. Already 
made legal by Congress in 1868, its use among scientific 
men and in scientific works is very general. It is used 
exclusively by the United States Coast Survey, the great- 
est of our public works. It is used in the most important 
laboratories of our colleges. It is used altogether by our 
analytic chemists, and largely by physicians, and all those 
who have dealings with foreign countries, and, further than 
this, it is the ardent desire of every man who fully under- 
stands it to see its use among us universal. The decimal 
subdivision of the foot is used by our engineers. 



SIMULTANEOUS ACTION ON THE PART OF THE PUBLIC 
MEMORIALS TO CONGRESS. CIRCULAR. 

The following Circular, already signed by the literary, 
scientific, and otherwise influential public men throughout 
the country, is now receiving the signatures of the profes- 
sional men, and of the general public, in every State of 
the Union : — 

THE METRIC OR DECIMAL SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND 

MEASURES. 

The Metric System of Weights and Measures has now received the 
sanction of law among more than half the inhabitants of the civil- 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 25 

ized and Christian world. It lias, up to this date, been adopted by 
the French, Germans, Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese, Dutch, Bel- 
gians, Mexicans, Swiss, Austrians, Danes, Grecians, British in India, 
Brazilians, and the majority of the civilized inhabitants of South 
America ; in all about four hundred and twenty millions of souls. 

In 1864 the system was legalized in Great Britain ; in Germany, in 
1868. After four years of preparation, on the 1st of January, 1872, 
it was made compulsory in that empire, and no other system was 
any longer legal. In 1866 it was legalized in the United States. It 
is now 1874, and we have had eight years for preparation, — twice as 
long as was allowed to the people of Germany. Its general adoption 
among us should no longer be delayed. 

"No cause," says an eminent writer on the subject, "since the 
earliest organization of civilized society, has contributed more 
largely to embarrass business transactions among men, especially 
by interfering with the facility of commercial exchanges between 
different countries, or between different provinces, cities, or even in- 
dividual citizens of the same country, than the endless diversity of 
instrumentalities employed for the purpose of determining the quan- 
tities of exchangeable commodities. For the inconvenience and con- 
fusion resulting from this cause, but one effectual remedy can pos- 
sibly be suggested, and that is the general adoption throughout the 
world of a common system of weights and measures." 

Such a common system is offered us in the Metric — a system, ac- 
cording to which the weight and dimensions of every material thing, 
whether solid, liquid or gaseous, whether on land or on water, 
whether in the earth or in the heavens, and whether determined by 
the scale, plummet, balance, barometer or thermometer, are ascer- 
tained by a method absolutely uniform, entirely simple, and equally 
suitable to the use of all mankind, resting upon a single invariable 
standard of linear measure/with multiples and sub-multiples, like 
those of our monetary system, exclusively decimal, with appropriate 
names, similar in all languages ; and itself secure against the possi- 
bility of change or loss through carelessness, or accident or design, 
by being constructed on scientific principles and copied for distribu- 
tion among the different nations of the world. 

It is clear that England, owing to the jDrogress she has already 
made in this direction, and to her position in Europe, must very soon 
complete the process she has already begun, of adopting this system. 

The United States should not wait for England. The German, 
French, and other foreign element here already exerts a great pres- 
sure in the direction of its general adoption. Moreover, having al- 



26 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

ready, in our dollars, dimes, cents, and mills the principle of the 
Metric System in actual use before us, it will be only an extension 
of a method already familiar, to carry out the same system in all 
other measures of quantity. There being, therefore, with us nothing 
to learn, no serious difficulty will be encountered, even with the 
most uneducated classes, for they make use of the principle already. 
How many of the best educated understand and are masters of our 
present senseless and complicated system of weights and measures ? 

The Metric System, moreover, is already in use in the most impor- 
tant of our great public works, — the United States Coast Survey. 

Under our republican form of government, it is not to be expected 
that our national legislature will, in a matter so nearly touching the 
daily business and habits of every citizen, be in advance of the peo- 
ple themselves. Congress has made the Metric System legal, and 
has power to make it compulsory ; but this is a power which that 
body is not likely to exercise until a call for such action shall come 
up to its members from their constituents at home. 

For further progress in this direction, therefore, we must now look 
to the people themselves. The work must be done practically, not 
by the literary and scientific, who, however deeply they feel the im- 
portance of the subject, and however earnestly they may desire an 
immediate change for the better, are not in a condition to secure its 
general adoption. Nor can it be done by the laboring and less edu- 
cated classes, who no more feel the want of it than the world in 
general felt the want of steamboats and railroads before the inven- 
tion of steam power. It must be done by those whose professions 
require them to make constant use of weights and measures, and for 
whom the imperfections of the present system are a continual source 
of annoyance and loss in time and power, and whose position is such 
in relation to the other classes, that their example must be followed 
both by those on the one hand whom they employ, and by those on 
the other who employ them. 

The work of introducing the Metric System of measures of length 
or distance should be undertaken by the architects, engineers and 
builders. By agreeing to use the metric measures of length in all 
their professional transactions, commencing on a certain day fixed 
several months in advance, they will necessitate the gradual and har- 
monious introduction of those measures as well among the workmen 
employed by them, as by their clients for whom their plans are 
made ; for, in order to understand the measurements figured upon 
these plans by the architects, such workmen must familiarize them- 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



27 



selves with the principles of the system from which the numbers are 
derived. 

Vigorous efforts will be necessary, and many difficulties must be 
overcome, before we can hope to succeed. But so large a portion of 
the civilized world has already accomplished what we are proposing, 
country after country in so rapid succession has ranged itself in the 
metric ranks, that the necessity of things must soon drive us into 
completing what we have already begun; and no reflecting man 
will deny that the difficulty of making this unavoidable change must 
necessarily continue to increase the longer it is deferred, and that, 
whenever a destiny becomes manifestly inevitable, it is the part of 
wisdom to advance to meet it, rather than to await the lingering pro- 
cess by which it must otherwise accomplish itself. 

The following simple tables give all that there is in the Metric or 
Decimal System of weights and measures : — 

MONEY. 



10 mills 
10 cents 
10 dimes 
10 dollars 



make a cent. 
" " dime. 
" " dollar. 
" an eagle. 



LENGTH. 



10 milli-meters make a centimeter. 



10 centi-meters 
10 deci-meters 
10 meters 
10 deka-meters 
10 hecto-meters 
10 kilo-meters 



" decimeter. 
" meter. 
" dekameter. 
" hectometer. 
" kilometer. 
" myriameter. 



WEIGHTS. 



10 milli-grams make a 

10 centi-grams 

10 deci-grams 

10 grams 

10 deka-grams 

10 hecto-grams 

10 kilo-grams 



centigram. 

decigram. 

gram. 

dekagram. 

hectogram. 

kilogram. 

myriagram. 



28 THE METEIC SYSTEM OF 



CAPACITY. 

10 milli-liters make a centiliter. 
10 centi-liters " " deciliter. 
10 deci-liters " " liter. 
10 liters " " dekaliter. 

10 deka-liters " " hectoliter. 

THE SQUARE AND CUBIC MEASURES 

are nothing more than the squares and cubes of the measures of 
length. (Thus a square and a cubic milli-meter are the square and 
the cube of which one side is a milli-meter in length.) 

The are and stere are other names for the square dekameter and 
the cubic meter. 



The undersigned, therefore, venture to recommend to the mem- 
bers of the several professions employing weights and measures, 
that they, or as many of them as, after due consideration, may be 
disposed to co-operate for the furtherance of this desirable object, 
should enter into some formal written compact with each other, bind- 
ing themselves, after some definitely fixed time in the future, to act on 
the plan above suggested, from employing in their professional trans- 
actions only the metric weights and measures. On their own part, the 
undersigned engage to do all that may be in their power, by their 
advocacy, by their influence, or, if possible, by means of a more 
practical nature to promote this important reform. 

[Signatures of literary, scientific and otherwise influential public 
men.] 

We, the undersigned, : 

do hereby 

agree to use the Metric System of. 

on and after 

(before if desired) the 1st day of 

in all our profes- 
sional transactions, provided that a majority of our profession in the 

largest cities of the United States 

agree to do the same. 

[Signatures of professional men and of the public generally.] 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 29 



MEMORIALS. 

Two memorials, printed by the American Metrological 
Society, a few weeks ago, at the same time with the cir- 
cular, and petitioning Congress to do some of those things 
which it may do to advance the cause, have received the 
signatures of influential men from all parts of the coun- 
try. 

Of the first of these memorials the following is the last 
paragraph, which explains the object of the whole : — 

" The prayer of your memorialists therefore is, that your honora- 
ble body may see fit to enact, during your present session, such laws 
as may be necessary to effect the objects set forth in this memorial 
as desirable, viz. : laws which shall make practicable, as well as 
legal, the use of the Metric System of weights and measures, in the 
estimation and computation of customs-duties in the custom-houses 
of the United States ; which shall make it obligatory upon the post- 
office department of the United States to assess postages on matters 
transmitted through the mails in accordance with the provisions of 
the metric postal act of 1866 ; which shall require, in the reports of all 
the great public works conducted under the authority of the federal 
government, numerical statements involving dimensions, or quan- 
tities of any kind, to be made in metric denominations, as well as in 
those of the metrology in common use in the country ; and which 
shall extend this requisition to statistical and other documents in- 
volving statements of quantities, which may be issued under author- 
ity of any of the departments of the executive governments." 

The second memorial relates to coinage, and is as fol- 
lows : — 

"MEMORIAL 

" To the Eon. the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States, in Congress assembled: — 

" The Memorial of the Undersigned, members of the Metrological 
Society of the United States, and others, respectfully showeth : — 
" That the coinage of the United States, in both the metals, gold 



30 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

and silver, is, - at this time, in weight, almost in strict accordance 
with the denominations of the Metric System. By the coinage act of 
1873, the silver coinage is, by the explicit terms of the law, made 
entirely so. 

The legal weights of the gold coins are Metric within so small a 
fraction that, for the smaller coins, the tolerance remedy allowed by 
law for error of weight, in the mechanical process of coinage, more 
than covers the difference. The weight of standard gold in the dol- 
lar is twenty-five grains and eight-tenths of a grain ; and that of pure 
gold twenty-three grains and twenty-two one hundredths. This last 
weight exceeds one gram and a half by just seven one-hundredths 
of a grain ; an excess having the value of about three-tenths of a 
cent ; while the legal tolerance on the gold dollar is one quarter of 
a grain of standard gold, of the value of one cent. The gold coins 
of the United States, when in circulation, lose in weight shortly, by 
abrasion, more than sufficient to bring them to the Metric standard. 
There seems, therefore, to be no valid objection to such a modifica- 
tion of the law which declares what shall be the weights of the gold 
coins of the United States, as to make the amount of pure gold con- 
tained in the dollar exactly one gram and a half; the weights of 
the other gold coins being modified accordingly. Should this 
change be made, all the coins of the United States, except the base 
metal tokens, will be made conformable to the same system of 
weights, and will be consistent with each other. 

" The prayer of your memorialists therefore is, that your honora- 
ble body may see fit, during your present session, to pass an act 
supplementary to the coinage act of 1873, adjusting the weight of 
the gold coins of the United States, so as to make them expressible 
in Metric denominations. 

" And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc." 



OTHER INFLUENCES NOW AT WORK TO RENDER THE EARLY 
INTRODUCTION OF THE SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES 
INEVITABLE. 

Thus, throughout the world scientific men, associa- 
tions and journals are beginning to use the Metric System 
exclusively in their experiments, calculations and writings. 
The International Statistical Congress, composed of dele- 



WEIGHTS .AND MEASURES. 31 

gates from all nations, publishing their scientific reports con- 
taining a vast mass of valuable and interesting information 
in regard to the actual wealth, productions, natural and 
artificial, and general condition of industry, and commerce 
of all countries, systematically collected, and philosophi- 
cally arranged, with a view to promoting the general wel- 
fare, have adopted the Metric System, as otherwise the 
quantities collected would be incomparable and unintelli- 
gible, and, therefore, unavailable. Speaking of the rise 
of this Congress, Dr. Barnard says: "From this epoch 
dates a new era in the history of the world's legislation. 
For the enlarged views of the reciprocal duties, as well as 
of the true interests of nations, in which this great general 
movement originated, are destined, through its instrument- 
ality, to impress themselves more and more completely 
upon human institutions ; until statutes shall at last cease 
to be monuments of ignorance, prejudice, or ignoble jeal- 
ousies, and the aim of all laws shall be the greatest good 
of the greatest number. One most important result has 
already been secured by the action of these congresses ; 
in that so far as the science of statistics is concerned, 
so far, we may even say, as the successful conduct of gov- 
ernmental administration is concerned, it has made the 
Metric System of Weights and Measures a system of uni- 
versal necessity, and rendered a familiar acquaintance 
with it absolutely indispensable to every statesman, every 
publicist, every teacher or student of political economy, 
and every enlightened lawgiver throughout the world." 

The International Social Science Association, having 
adopted the system, exerts its great influence throughout 
every corner of the civilized world, to bring about its 
universal adoption. 

Other international conferences have been often called 
together for the special purpose of establishing this system 
in every land. 



32 THE METEIC SYSTEM OF 



AMERICAN METROLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

Finally another powerful arm has been raised in our 
midst, to help on the general good. A body of learned 
and public-spirited men has lately been formed under the 
name of the American Metrological Society, for the sole 
purpose of promoting the public welfare in this important 
particular. Their influence has begun to be widely felt, 
as we have already seen. 

• 

PREDICTION OF JOHN QUTNCY ADAMS. 

No words could be found better fitted to conclude this 
part of the subject than these eloquent ones of John 
Quincy Adams : — 

"If man upon earth be an improvable being, if that 
universal peace which was the object of a Saviour's mis- 
sion, which is the desire of the philosopher, the longing 
of the philanthropist, the trembling hope of the Christian, 
is a blessing to which the futurity of mortal man has a 
claim of more than mortal promise ; if the Spirit of Evil 
is, before the final consummation of things, to be cast 
down from his dominion over men, and bound in the 
chains of a thousand years, — the foretaste here of man's 
eternal felicity ; then this system of common instruments 
to accomplish all the charges of social and friendly com- 
merce will furnish the links of sympathy between the in- 
habitants of the most friendly regions ; the meter will 
surround the world in use as well as in multiplied exten- 
sion ; and one language of weights and measures will be 
spoken from the equator to the poles." 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 33 



SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES OF THE METRIC 

SYSTEM. 

I. Uniformity. It is the International System. 

II. Simplicity. 

III. Its base inalterable. 

IV. Its multiples and subdivisions decimal. 

V. Its units of weight, length, volume .and capacity 
mutually related upon scientific principles. 

VI. Nomenclature expressive of values. 

Let us examine each of these advantages in detail. 

I. 

THE ADVANTAGES OF HAVING A COMMON SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS 
AND MEASURES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD 

are manifold. 

1st. It renders intelligible to us all foreign literature 
containing statements of values in weights or measures, 
which would otherwise be useless ; and, reciprocally, it 
renders our books, magazines and journals intelligible to 
foreigners, and facilitates their circulation abroad ; in short, 
it opens between nations, channels of communication which 
would otherwise be closed. 

2d. It removes that impediment to the propagation of 
knowledge among the people, such as now exists in our 
country when our scientific books employ, as is generally the 
case, the Metric System, or to the progress of science itself, 
when the Metric System cannot be adopted in the books. 

3d. It facilitates commerce by removing the possibility 
of delays, inaccuracies and difficulties in reducing values 
from one system to another, and the liability to imposition 
which would otherwise result from a diversity of systems. 

4th. It facilitates travel in foreign countries, and 
diminishes the danger of imposition. 



34 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 



THE METRIC THE ONLY SYSTEM THAT CAN BECOME A 

COMMON SYSTEM. 

That the Metric System is the only one that can ever 
become universal is now no longer a matter of doubt. It 
has already taken too deep root and its superiority over 
all other systems is too widely appreciated, to allow of its 
ever being torn up and supplanted by another. Even had 
it become less universal, it is clear that, had we refused to 
adopt this the most perfect of systems, for the sake of uni- 
formity, we should have been still less willing to accept any 
other. On the other hand, it would, for the same reasons, 
have been doubly impossible for us to persuade other nations 
to adopt ours, especially as no two systems were commens- 
urable with each other. Charles Sumner says, "A system 
of weights and measures born of philosophy rather than 
of chance, is what we now seek. To this end old systems 
must be abandoned. A chance system cannot be universal. 
Science is universal. Therefore, what is produced by 
science may find a home everywhere." 

II. 

THE ADVANTAGE OF SIMPLICITY. 

Twelve words are all that are necessary to designate the 
various units of weights and measures, and all their 
decimal multiples and subdivisions in this system. The 
Metric System is composed of twelve words. Surely this 
cannot be very difficult to master. Our present system 
is composed of about fifty words. 

In order to ensure these twelve words against all possi- 
bility of change, and to facilitate their acceptation by all 
nations, they were not taken from any modern language, 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



35 



but are derived from the Greek and Latin, the two prin- 
cipal languages of the ancient world. 
These words are, — 

r 1 Meter, from the Greek Metron, signifying a Measure. 



* 


2 Liter, " 


" «« Litra, 


(< 


a Pound. 


^0 


3 Gram, " 


" " Gramma, 


tt 


a small Weight. 


9 


4 Are, " 


" Latin Area, 


tt 


a Surface. 




J> Stero, " 


" Greek Stereos, 


tt 


a Solid. 


.^ * f6Milli, " 
2|^7Centi, » 


" Latin "Mille," 


a 


Thousand. 


" « " Centum," 


<( 


Hundred. 


«§'| ^8Deci, « 


" " « Decern," 


tt 


Ten. 


CO 


"9Deka, »* 


" Greek Deka, 


a 


Ten. 




10 Hecto, " 


'* " Hecaton, 


a 


Hundred. 


•so 


11 Kilo, " 


" " Chilioi, 


it 


Thousand. 


1 


12 Myria, " 


" " Myrioi, 


a 


Ten thousand. 



These words are already in use in the English language. Thus, 
Meter in thermometer, metrology, etc.; Liter in litrameter; Gram in 
gram (see Webster's Die.) : Are in area ; Stere in stereoscope ; Mille in 
miUenium or mill ; Centi in century or cent ; Deci or decimal ; Deka in 
decade; Hecto in hecatomb ; Kilo in chiliad; Myria in myriad. 

In addition to the tables already given these two are 
used : — 

SQUARE MEASURE. 

10 centi-ares (=: 1 sq. meter) make a deciare. 

10 deci-ares (= 10 sq. meters) " " are. 

10 ares (=z 100 sq. meters) " " hectare (=z 1,000 sq. m.) 

SOLD) MEASURE FOR WOOD. 

10 deci-steres (= ^ of a cubic meter) make a stere. 

10 steres (=z 1 cubic meter) " " dekastere. 

Being accustomed to the words mill, cent and dime, we 
shall find the words " milligram," " centigram " and " deci- 
gram " quite as simple and easy to pronounce as our words 
"pennyweight-troy," "hundredweight-avoirdupois," "scru- 
ple-apothecaries," etc., notwithstanding the assertion to 



36 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

the contrary of those who grieve to give up the tf short and 
sharp Anglo-Saxon words used iu our present familiar 
old tables " of weights and measures. 

Finally, the Metric has all the advantage in point of 
simplicity over all other systems of weights and measures 
that our Federal system of money can claim over the 
monetary systems of other countries where the denomina- 
tions are not decimal. 

In England, a body called " The International Decimal 
Association" sent a circular to schoolmasters, asking how 
much would be saved in that country in education, were 
the Metric to supplant the old system. 

After a very careful calculation, the answer returned 
was, that there would be a saving of money of about 
£350,000 (1,750,000 dollars) a year, and in time an 
amount equally astonishing. The reason of this is the 
difficulty in elementary education of committing our tables 
to memory, and learning to manipulate them, and the 
absolute hopelessness of being able to remember them. 
A vast amount of valuable time and energy which is 
needed for useful study is lost in attempting to master 
these tables. 

III. 

THE ADVANTAGE OF UNALTEK ABILITY. 

The base of the system has been rendered unalterable by 
reproducing, on scientific principles, and with mathe- 
matical accuracy, the standard previously obtained and 
preserved at Paris, and distributing the copies for use and 
safe-keeping among the several nations of the civilized 
world. Thus the unit of length becomes as indestructible 
and unalterable a standard as the meridian itself, or any 
other natural, unalterable magnitude, and, guarded by all 
nations, no one can alter it by legislation. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 37 

IV. 

ADVANTAGES OE DECIMAL DENOMINATIONS. 

Our Federal currency shows us the advantages of the 
decimal system, in the facility and rapidity with which 
we make reductions and calculate values. We should 
consider our burden intolerable if, instead of this simple 
table, we were obliged to use three or four complicated 
ones, all different from each other, like our three different 
tables for measuring weight ; one, for instance, like the 
English pounds, shillings and pence, for buying medicine ; 
another, different from the first, for buying our groceries ; 
and a third, different from either, and perhaps containing 
vulgar fractions for greater variety, for buying our jew- 
elry and other ornaments. 

As before mentioned, our engineers feel so deeply the 
importance of the decimal subdivision, that, notwith- 
standing the inconvenience of completing our system, they 
have adopted the decimal subdivision of the above. 

There are other advantages under this head, especially 
important to architects, engineers, mechanics, and con- 
tractors. Such as the greater convenience in measuring 
off the full size from small drawings which vary now be- 
tween the inconvenient quantities of ^ in., ^ in., yg-in., 
I- in., J- in., f in., 1 in., 11- in., 3 in., etc., to the foot; 
so that in measuring off the full size a considerable diver- 
sity of multiples must be used. With the decimal system 
nothing would be easier than the reading off of the full 
size from the scale drawings, 1.50 representing either the 
full size of lm. 50 c. or 1 decim. 50 mm., or 1 c. 5 mm., 
according to the scale of the drawing expressed upon it, 
the mere alteration of the position of the decimal point 
giving the desired full size on the scale dimensions. 



38 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

Then the decimal subdivision leaves less chance of error 
from the misreading of figures. Every architect has, for 
example, experienced the liability to mistake in reading 
1' 5" as 15" instead of 17". 

Problems to show the relative facilities of reduction by the 
old and new systems, 

EXAMPLE, METRIC SYSTEM. 

Problem. — Reduce 1543514 centimeters to Kilometers, Hecto- 
meters, etc. 

OPERATION. 

15.435.14. cm. = 1.543514 Myriameters, or 1 Mm., 5 Em., 4 Hm., 
3 Dm., 5 m., 1 dm., 4 cm. Ans. 

EXAMPLE, OLD SYSTEM. 

Problem. — Reduce 1543514 inches to miles, furlongs, etc. 

OPERATION. 

12) 1543514 m. 



3) 128626 ft. 4- 2 in. 

5i = ljf) 42875 yds. 4- 1 ft. 
2 



11) 85750 halves of yd. 
40) 7795 r.-f-f yds. — 2 yds. ,1ft., 6 in. 
8) 194f.-f35r. 

24 m. 4-2 f. 

24m., 2f., 35 r., 2 yds., 1ft., 2 in. 

lft., 6 in. 

27m., 2f., 35 r., 2 yds., 2 ft., 8 in. Ans. 

V. 

MEASURES OF LENGTII, VOLUME, WEIGHT AND CAPACITY 

COMMENSURABLE . 

This is an enormous advantage, for if the weight of a 
body is given we can know easily its volume and recip- 
rocally. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 39 

Li our present system there exists no such relation 
between the weights and measures. 

As a result of this relationship in the Metric System, 
the unit of weight is easily obtained and becomes as unal- 
terable as the unit of length, the gram or unit of weight 
being the weight of a cubic centimeter of distilled water 
at 4° Centigrade. 

A cubic meter of water weighs a ton or 1,000 kilogs. 
In ship-building it is a special advantage to have a unit 
which bears an exact proportion to a ton of water ; a ton 
now contains 35.955 cubic feet, and the only way to get 
rid of the long decimal fraction is to add salt to the water 
until thirty-five cubic feet weigh exactly a ton, 'an opera- 
tion sufficiently difficult to perform successfully when the 
ocean is the object to be operated upon. 



Problems to show the relative facilities of calculation by the 
old and new systems. 

EXAMPLE, METRIC SYSTEM. 

Problem. — What is the weight of 257 cubic meters, 200 cubic decimeters, 100 cubic 
centimeters, and 700 cubic millimeters of cannel coal ? Given, specific gravity of cannel 
coal 1.27. 

OPERATION. 

257.217 cu. m. =257,002,001.7 cu. cm. 

1 cu. cm. of water weighs 1 gr. x 1 27 =1.27= weight of 1 cu. cm. cannel coal. 

257002001.7 
1.27 



37990140119 
5140040034 
2570020017 



Ans. 326392542.159 grams, or 
32639 Mg., 2 Kg., 5 Hg., 4 Dg., 2 g., 1 dg., 5 eg., 9 mg. 



40 



THE METEIC SYSTEM OF 



EXAMPLE, OLD SYSTEM. 

(257.217 cu. meters = 2 cu. rods, 3 cu. yds., 18 cu. ft., 40 cu. in.) 

Problem. — What is the weight of 2 cubic rods, 3 cubic yards, 18 cubic feet, and 40 
cubic inches of cannel coal? Given, specific gravity of cannel coal 1.27, and supposed 
weight of 1 cubic inch of water about 252.7453-}- grains. 

By the old system it is impossible to solve the problem accurately. 

OPERATION. 

2 cu. rods, 3 cu. yds., 18 cu. ft., 40 cu. in. 
2 
166| 



2 cu. rods = 332JJ cu. yds. 
3 

335| 
27 



2345 
670 
20| 



335| cu. yds. =9065^ cu. ft. 
18 

9083$ 
1728 

72664 
18166 
63581 

9083 
432 

9083$ cu. ft. =15695856 cu. in. 
40 



5j=yxyxy=A^J.=i66}. 



The U. S. Bureau of Weights and Meas- 
ures have accepted (though it is incorrect) 
the weight of 1 cu. inch of water 

= 252.7453 grs. 
1.27 

17692171 
5054906 
2527453 



320.986531 = grs. weight of 
1 cu. in. cannel coal. 



15695896 cu. in. =2 cu. rods, 3 cu. yds., 18 cu. ft., 40 cu in. 
- 320.986 



94175376 
125567168 
141263064 
31391792 
47087688 

7000) 50381G2373.457 grs. 

25) 719737 lbs., 3873.457 grs. 

4) 2S7S9 qrs., 12 lbs. 

20) 7197 cwt., 1 qr. 

359 T., 17 cwt. 



7000 grs. Troy= 1 lb. Avoirdupois. 
3873.457 grs. Troy = ^S^- lbs. Avoi 



7000 



pois. 



3873.457 „ 7746.914 

X 16 = — — — oz. 



7000 

875) 7746.914 
7000 

7469 
7000 

4691 
4375 

3164 



875 

(8.853+ oz. 
16 

5118 
853 

13.648+ drams. 



Ana. 359 T., 17 cwt., 1 qr., 12 lbs., 8 oz., 13.64S drs. 



In the second operation 380 figures are required, in 
the first only 87. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 41 

In the second fifteen different mathematical operations 
have to be performed. 
In the first only two. 
This is but a fair comparison of the two systems. 

VI. 

THE NAMES EXPRESS VALUES. 

The nomenclature is thus easy to learn, and once learned 
can never be forgotten. 

The names are often abbreviated in speaking. Thus, 
"Kilogram" is called "Kilo." In writing they are almost 
always abbreviated. 

The following seems to be the best method of abbrevia- 
tion : — 

The abbreviations are written after the figures, as 
24 mm., 27.3 g., 72 Kg. 

The Greek names, or names of the higher orders of 
units, are written in capitals, as Kg. (Kilogram), Mm. 
(Myriameter) . 

The Latin names, or names of the lower orders of units, 
are written in small letters, as eg. (centigram), mm. 
(millemeter) . In square measure the word square is ab- 
breviated sq. ; thus, 3 sq. m. = 3 square meters. 

In solid measure the word cubic is abbreviated cu. ; thus, 
4 cu. Hm. = 4 cubic Hektometers.* 

The system possesses other advantages, such as its great 
value as an intellectual and educational machine, but these 
I pass by, as I think enough has been said to explain its 
principles. 

* The German Institute of Architects and Engineers have, at Berlin, 
lately adopted the sign Q for the abbreviation of square, as 3 □ ra. ; but this 
is difficult to write quickly and too liable to be mistaken for O* Some writ- 
ers prefer the forms m 2 and ms. 



42 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

OBJECTIONS TO THE METRIC SYSTEM CONSIDERED. 



Some objections have been made to the Metric System. 
Of these the majority are too evidently groundless to justify 
their consideration, where amusement is not the principal 
object sought after. The rest deserve notice on account 
of the weight, not of the arguments themselves, but of 
the names of their authors, who, however, seem scarcely 
to have been serious in offering them. Moreover, since 
these objections were made, public opinion on this subject 
has undergone material change, and it is probable that many 
of those who once criticised are now among the most 
earnest advocates for what the majority of the world has 
made its international system of weights and measures. 

FIBST OBJECTION. 

"the unit base too lakge."* 

In answer to this objection we cannot do better than 
quote the words of Dr. Barnard. " We are told," he says, 
" that the linear unit of the system is too large. Too large 
for what? 'Too large,' in the words of your committee, 
f to be apprehended by a young and uninstructed mind.' 
This is something which I confess I do not apprehend. A 
meter, I suppose, can be brought into the school-room, 
and can be seen without difficulty, even by a very small 
boy, from end to end. I remember, when I was a very 
small boy myself, seeing something brought in which was 
about as long as a meter ; and if I did not apprehend it at 
the time, I was at least very apprehensive of it. 

* The objections considered are principally those given in the report of 
the committee appointed by the Convocation of the University of the State 
of New York, for the purpose of considering the subject of a uniform sys- 
tem of weights and measures. First committee appointed in 18GG. Report 
published in 1870. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 43 

"But Mr. Adams says the meter is too long for a pocket 
rule. ? Perhaps,' he remarks, c for half the occasions which 
arise in the life of every individual for the use of a linear 
measure, the instrument, to suit his purposes, must be 
portable, and fit to be carried in his pocket. Neither the 
meter, the half meter, nor the decimeter, is suited to that 
purpose. What, then, would Mr. Adams have? Would 
the foot-rule fit into a man's pocket more conveniently 
than the decimeter ? Does any man carry a foot-rule in 
his pocket in any other than a folding form ? And cannot 
a folded meter be carried in the pocket as easily as a 
folded foot ? I at least find it so, as this rule proves which 
I here present you. But since we have not yet adopted 
the meter as our unit, and since, after all, in spite of what 
Mr. Adams says, or what anybody else says, it happens 
to be notorious that a foot is not the measure which f for 
half the occasions which arise in the life of every individ- 
ual ' is the most useful ; the portable measure which we 
commonly find in men's pockets is a tape-measure of a 
yard or fathom in length, put up more compactly than is 
possible for any rule, whether long or short." I would 
add here that the French actually use, in practice, a measure 
not far from our foot in length. This is the " Double Deci- 
meter," which is about eight inches long, and, as I found, 
only a little more convenient than our measure of twelve 
inches, because it could be packed in an ordinary box of 
pocket drawing instruments without folding . ( See Chart. ) 

Dr. Barnard continues : "As to what ought to be the 
value of the standard length unit, opinions differ. The 
British standard is a yard. The Russian is the sagene, 
more than twice as long. Capt. Piazzi Smyth almost fan- 
tastically attaches himself to the inch, a measure which he 
believes with implicit faith to have been divinely given to 
Cheops, builder of the great pyramid, and again to Moses 



44 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

in the wilderness ; and in what he, no doubt, regards as 
the great work of his life, he uses no other to express the 
largest dimensions. 

n But it is also said that there are things to be measured 
in the common affairs of life that are less than a meter. 
I should suppose so. There are likewise many things to 
be measured, less than a foot or an inch. They measure 
these things in England, even though the yard is their le- 
gal standard. In mechanical engineering in France, the 
centimetre is the unit ; in physics, the millimeter. It does 
not unfit them for these uses that their names happen to 
be expressive of relation to the standard. The metric 
unit of weight in commerce is the kilogramme ; in analytic 
chemistry and pharmacy it is the gramme. The metric 
unit for dry measure is the hectoliter ; for liquid measure 
it is the liter ; the metric agrarian unit is the hectare ; 
the metric itinerary unit is the kilometer. It is, in fact, 
one of the merits of the system, that while, like all other 
systems, it allows any denomination to be made a unit 
measure for special purposes, yet it allows also instan- 
taneous transformations from one denomination to another 
without changing a figure, but by the simple removal of a 
point. This cannot be done in non-decimal systems. The 
inch, for example, is with us the unit of the mechanical 
engineer and the draftsman. The rod is the farmer's unit 
of distance. But to reduce inches to feet you must divide 
by twelve, changing all your figures ; and to reduce rods 
to feet you must multiply by sixteen and a half. This 
plan does not seem to me preferable to the Metric. When 
your committee say that in their opinion f other units be- 
sides the base unit should be used as secondary bases for 
collections of numbers,' I agree with them. It is what, 
in the employment of the Metric System, I have always 
been in the habit of doing myself. But if, when tb^y say 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 45 

this, they mean to say that values expressed in units of 
these secondary bases ought not to be transformable by 
the simplest processes possible into units of the standard 
base, my impression is that they will fail to carry the 
world along with them." 



SECOND OBJECTION. 

"the decimal division too difficult." 

" Another serious difficulty is started of an educational 
character. Ten, it seems, is a difficult number to grasp ; 
and one-tenth part is a still more difficult fraction. We 
can never know anything about one-tenth f until we have 
divided the unit into two equal parts, into three, into four, 
and so on up to ten.' Since this is the case, it is melan- 
choly to reflect how much more objectionable is our actual 
system of weights and measures than the Metric ; since it 
will be necessary to divide the foot into three, into four, 
and so on all the way up even to twelve, before the faint- 
est conception of an inch can begin to dawn upon our 
minds ; and when we turn our attention to the pound and 
the ounce avoirdupois, the formidably protracted extent of 
this unavoidable operation becomes quite disheartening. 
Still, however grave this business of ten may be, I suppose 
that our children must some time or other know something 
about decimal arithmetic ; and they will have to know 
something about it whether they learn the Metric System 
or not. If they know it, they know the system, all but 
its nomenclature ; if they don't know it, then I can con- 
ceive of no educational machinery better suited to make 
them know it than the visible magnitude of the Metric 
measures placed before their eyes. The question is not 
whether we shall teach the Metric System to babes, but 



46 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

whether we shall teach it alonsr with the arithmetic, and 
as a part of the arithmetic, which boys must learn at any 
rate. The objector does not, apparently, discover that 
his argument is no less damnatory to our Federal Cur- 
rency than to the Metric System ; yet my observation in 
the streets of New York satisfies me that gamins of very 
tender years, without having enjoyed the advantages of 
scholastic culture, or having been carefully and system- 
atically carried through the operation of dividing the unit 
into two parts, into three parts, into four parts, and so on 
up to ten, acquire an acute appreciation of the relative 
value of a dime stamp and a nickel." 

The committee itself admits that " To consume the time 
of the young, at school, in teaching old systems long su- 
perseded by better ones, is little short of a crime." 

THIKD OBJECTION. 

"the decimal division often unsuitable for practical 

purposes." 

In the words of the committee, " Because the binary sub- 
division is better in many cases than the decimal." For this 
very reason those countries using the Metric System use also 
the binary subdivisions. Tinas, in Germany, according 
to a law passed on the 26th of January, 1870, Art. 5, 
the following divisions of the liter were allowed as meas- 
ures in public business : — 

h liter. 
1 " 
\ " 
tV " 
■h " 
.05 " 
.02" 



20 


liters. 


10 


<< 


5 


tt 


1 


«< 


1 


<< 


.2 


<« 


.1 


<< 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



47 



Also, Art. 22, the following measures of weight : — 



50 Kilogram. 


500 Gram. 


5 Decigram. 


25 


250 " 


2 


20 


200 " 


1 


10 


100 " 


5 Centigram. 


5 


50 " 


2 


2 


20 " 


1 


1 


10 " 


5 Milligram. 




5 " 


2 




2 " 


1 




1 " 





It is not, however, necessary to go abroad to find ex- 
amples of the peaceful association of the binary and deci- 
mal subdivision in the same system. Our dollar is di- 
vided into halves, quarters, twentieths, etc. 

Dr. Barnard says, "In small dealings, the convenience 
of buyers and sellers is best consulted when the multiples 
and sub-multiples of quantities correspond with the mul- 
tiples and sub-multiples of coins. If a pound of any 
commodity costs twenty-five cents, it would suit all par- 
ties who use the Federal currency better if we could di- 
vide the pound evenly into five parts, than it does now to 
divide it into four. Nothing is more certain than that 
quantities bought and sold, and the instrument of pur- 
chase and sale, should be subject to the same law." 

FOUKTH OBJECTION. 



THE PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF ITS INTRO- 
DUCTION. 

An objection is made on the ground of the difficulties 
to be encountered in securing its practical introduction. 

There is the difficulty, first, of learning the Metric no- 
menclature and its principles of decimal division ; second, 



48 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

of familiarizing one's self with the actual Metric values ; 
and, third, of reducing values from the old to the new 
system ; and, fourth, of accommodating the gauges of ma- 
chinery to the new measures. 

In regard to the first difficulty, as the Metric vocabulary 
contains but twelve words, and of these the majority al- 
ready in common use in the English language, probably no 
American will allow that the mastery of these twelve words 
is more than his intelligence can accomplish. This is cer- 
tain, that if there be one man in a thousand who can re- 
peat one half of the names in our present tables and give 
their values, he will have acquired the feat only at the ex- 
pense of an extraordinary amount of patience and perse- 
verance. 

As for the decimal denominations, they are used already 
in that most popular of all our tables, — the table of 
Federal money. 

In regard to the second difficulty, that of learning the 
Metric values, thanks to the beauty and simplicity of the 
law upon which the system is founded, it will vanish as 
soon as approached, and a glance at the chart at the end 
of this pamphlet, giving full-sized drawings of the 
Metric Weights and Measures, will show that after all they 
are not so formidable as is generally supposed. 

The third difficulty is one which will, it is true, for a 
time at least, render necessary the use of tables of reduc- 
tion, like those accompanying this pamphlet. But the 
relief experienced in escaping from the bondage of the 
old system, and entering into the full enjoyment of one 
which renders calculation tenfold easier, will more than 
compensate us for the temporary annoyance of making an 
occasional reduction. The fourth difficulty has already 
been considered. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 49 



FIFTH OBJECTION. 

"we cannot conveniently deal in one system and 
think in another." 

To this objection Dr. Barnard says, "It is an undeni- 
able truth that, if we give up our present measures we shall 
cease to have them any longer. ' What follows ? ' say your 
committee with anxiety ; f we have blotted from the mind 
of the nation the foot, and a knowledge of every measure 
into which it enters as a unit.' This is evidently a seri- 
ous business. It reminds of the sad case of the lad, who, 
having eaten his cake, desired to have it again. The 
committee go on to explain that, instead of twenty-five 
feet, we shall have to say something else ; and instead of 
one hundred and forty-five miles we shall have to say 
something else still. And, exploring the extent of the 
calamity, the committee become gloomily figurative ; and, 
speaking with deep emotion of "the cubic foot, known 
wherever the English language is spoken," they tell us 
that this cherished object "is also gone, and in the twi- 
light of its existence we grope about for a substitute." I 
do not deny that this is eloquence ; but I respectfully sub- 
mit that it is not argument. There cannot but be some 
of us who .will consider that this tenderly lamented cubic 
foot, with its inconvenient numerical relation to the cubic 
inch of 1728 to 1, and its more inconvenient relation to 
the common unit of liquid capacity of 1728 to 231; and 
its even still more inconvenient relation to the unit of dry 
capacity of 1728 to 2,150.42 is very well out of the way. 

"I will not attempt to follow the committee further in 
their lament. But I cannot omit to notice, in passing, the 
perplexing embarrassment of the honest man who, setting 
out to purchase the convenient quantity of fourteen 



50 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

pounds of beef for his dinner, after there have ceased to 
be any pounds, is astounded at finding that he will be 
compelled to pay for the amazing number of grammes ex- 
pressed by the figures six thousand three hundred and 
fifty-six ; or in case that he is bankrupted by this huge 
demand, will be permitted to compromise the matter only 
on condition of buying six Kilogrammes, three hecto- 
grammes, five decagrammes, and six grammes. I wish to 
present a parallel to this. I go to my tailor for a coat, 
and he states to me the price, in a sum expressed by the 
four digits named above, in the same order, viz., six, three, 
five, six. The committee has given the general rule for 
reading concrete decimal numbers as follows : ' All the 
readings are made in the lowest unit.' Hence, the cent 
being the lowest money unit involved in the price named, 
my tailor is under the necessity of informing me that I 
can have the coat for six thousand three hundred and fifty- 
six cents ; and it will not be lawful for him to vary the 
form of expression in any manner unless to say, by way 
of alternative, that he will give me the coat for six eagles, 
three dollars, five dimes, and six cents. 

"I would, however, advise the unfortunate man who 
finds so much trouble with his marketing, not to buy his 
meat by the pound, after pounds have gone out of date ; 
but to content himself with a round six Kilogrammes, or, 
in case he is very hungry, say six and a half." 



SIXTH OBJECTION. 

" THE NOMENCLATURE TOO DIFFICULT, AND DERIVED FROM 
A FOREIGN LANGUAGE." 

Prof. Davies, of West Point, in his eloquent lecture 
delivered three years ago in New York, on the fearful and 



WEIGHTS Am> MEASUEES. 51 

disastrous consequences which are to be expected upon the 
introduction of a strange system of weights and measures 
into the United States, asks, "Can we abandon our short, 
sharp Saxon words, for their equivalents expressed in a 
foreign language ? " I fear this bitter sacrifice must be made. 
The short and sharp Saxon yard must be given up for the 
clumsy meter, and the familiar dram must yield to the 
gram, — mysterious word derived from an unknown 
tongue ! — though here, indeed, the difference will not be so 
keenly felt, as but one letter is altered, and Prof. Davies 
will find some little consolation for the loss of his dram, 
in reflecting that it is no less of Greek origin than gram. 

Then, again, it is exceedingly gloomy to reflect that our 
short and simple Kilderkins, barleycorns, penny weights and 
hundredweights, must make way for the unpronounceable 
and incomprehensible liters, centimeters, centigrams and 
Kilograms. Nay, even our dearly beloved and graceful 
hogsheads and puncheons, to say nothing of our delicate 
pipes and butts, must all be swept away to make room for 
the clumsy foreigner. It is true the new names are no 
more foreign than such words as dime, cent, mill, telegram, 
stereotype, photograph, and a hundred others, which, like 
decigram, centigram and milligram, are derived from the 
Greek and Latin. Yet we should be sorry to be obliged 
to give up the use of all the valuable articles above enu- 
merated, simply because their names were, for the conven- 
ience of scholars, of foreign origin. Avoirdupois and 
Troy (from the Ville de Troyes) are both French words. 

All this is sad enough, but, grievous as it is, the trial 
must be endured for the sake of the great advantages to 
be derived from it, as already described. 

As for Prof. Davies himself, since he has taken the 
trouble to enlighten the people by lecturing on the subject, 
no doubt he will still be allowed to use the short and 



52 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

sharp Saxon names in his private affairs, even after the 
rest of the world has long accommodated itself to the new 
system, just as many people among us still use the old 
words shillings and pence, though the majority of the pub- 
lic have accustomed themselves to the use of those incon- 
venient Latin words dime, cent and mill. 

Charles Sumner, in his address to the Senate in 1865, 
advocating the Metric System, says, " A system intended 
for universal adoption must discard all local or national 
terms. The prefixes employed are equally intelligible in 
all countries. They are no more French than English or 
German . They are in their nature common or cosmopolitan , 
and in all countries they are equally suggestive in disclos- 
ing the denomination of the measure. They combine the 
peculiar advantages of a universal name and a definition. 
The name instantly suggests the measure with exquisite 
precision." 

SEVENTH OBJECTION. 

"THE DECIMAL DIVISION HAS FAILED WHEN APPLIED TO 

THE CIRCLE." 

In answer to this objection we quote the words 
of Delambre, who will certainly be admitted as 
good authority on the subject. In his description 
of the operation of measuring the great French meridian 
arc, he says, "Three of our four circles were divi- 
ded into decimal grades or degrees, each having the 
value of 360° rr 400 = 0.°9 = 540' = 3240". This 
division is much the most convenient for the uses of the 
repeating circle, and would be equally so for the verniers 
of all instruments whatever. Many persons hold to the 
old system by habit, and because they have made no use 
of the new ; but no one of those who have practised both 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 53 

will willingly return to the old." Some engineers of the 
present day have the verniers of their theodolites divided 
decimally, on account of the great convenience of the deci- 
mal division in laying out railroad curves. 

EIGHTH OBJECTION. 

"the unit of length should be some dimension of 
the human person." 

The foot is our unit of length, and they say it is taken 
from the human foot. The average length of the human 
foot is, however, 10.058 inches, and not 12 inches. 
Therefore, whatever may have been the origin of any of 
the other 100 feet before mentioned, the unit, at least, of 
our present system is not taken from the human foot, 
though this scarcely needs demonstration, for if any one 
possessing a foot of his own believes it to be twelve inches 
long, he has only to measure it and see that he gives him- 
self credit for more than he possesses. It is derived from 
the yard, or original English unit, which was taken from 
the arm of Henry I. in 1101. In the Metric System, 
however, the unit of measure is the length from the ends 
of the fingers of the right arm stretched out to the left 
ear. The breadth of the palm is a decimeter, and of the 
end of the little finger a centimeter. A pace is ^ (nine- 
tenths) of a meter. Hence 50 paces are 45 meters ; 100 
paces, 90 meters, etc. 

NINTH OBJECTION. 

"THE ADOPTION OF THE SYSTEM WILL INVALIDATE LAND 

TITLES." 

To this, Dr. Barnard says, M As it respects the objec- 
tion that the introduction of the new measures would in- 
validate the titles to lands held under old surveys, nothing 



54 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

can be more imaginary. No legislation on this subject 
can be retroactive ; it would not be constitutional if it were. 
The registry of deeds in the past would continue to have 
the same validity as now. In making a new deed in the 
future, nothing would be easier than to translate the lan- 
guage descriptive of linear and superficial dimensions from 
one form of expression to the other. Changes would thus 
come on gradually, as property should change hands. 
Deeds have to be made anew when sales are effected, and 
only then. The labor of making them in one form or the 
other is precisely the same." 

TENTH OBJECTION. 

"the base not well chosen nor correctly de- 
termined." 

If the system was once open to this criticism, scientific 
men having, in some cases, objected to it on account of 
inaccuracy in the determination of its base, the objection 
has evidently now ceased to be valid. Since the method 
proposed in 1872, for rendering the unit of length no 
longer dependent upon accurate measurement of the earth's 
meridian, has been adopted, the meter, though an artificial 
standard, has nevertheless become invariable. Whether 
or not it would have been better in the beginning to have 
chosen the ten-millionth part of something else, say the 
diameter of the earth or that of the sun, rather than of 
the quadrant of the earth's meridian, is no longer a matter 
of the least practical importance, since, once chosen and 
reproduced, as above described, it can hereafter never 
again be altered. 



Having thus briefly considered the most reasonable of 
the objections made against the system, we will conclude 
by giving what we believe to be the best method of famil- 
iarizing the public with the Metric values. 



WEIGHTS AKD MEASURES. 55 



SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION ADOPTED IN GERMANY. 



Nothing can give so lasting and correct a conception of 
a thing as the direct view of it in its actual proportions. 
With this principle in view, the present advanced system 
of instruction in German schools aims at combining as far 
as possible with verbal explanation the actual exhibition, 
either by drawings or by models, of the object to be 
taught. In this way much time and trouble is saved. 

Just before the Metric System was enforced in Ger- 
many, a committee of teachers was called together for the 
purpose of determining the best method of familiarizing 
the public with the Metric values. The following was one 
of the most excellent methods largely adopted in the 
schools. 

By this method no comparison between the old and new 
systems is necessary to explain the Metric values, and no 
geometrical knowledge is presupposed. The work is done 
by bringing models of the new weights and measures di- 
rectly before the eyes of the student and explaining their 
relations to each other. 

In order to accomplish this, a certain amount of appa- 
ratus is necessary. There is required, first, what the Ger- 
mans call a "Schulmeter ; " second, a large chart giving a 
full-size drawing of the square meter, with its various 
subdivisions ; third, a chart like that which accompanies 
this book ; fourth, a decimeter cube, which can be 
taken apart and resolved into its component centimeter 
cubes ; and, fifth, a hollow cubical box made of tin, and 



56 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 

large enough to contain exactly the above-mentioned 
decimeter cube, to illustrate the measures of capacity, both 
dry and liquid, and the relations of the same to the 
measures of length and volume. Being made to contain 
exactly a cubic decimeter, this box represents the liter, 
and, when filled with water at 0° Centigrade, its weight 
represents the Kilogram. Thus the mutual relations of the 
weights and measures is seen at a glance, and the impres- 
sion produced is positive and permanent. 

The Metric values and the whole principle of the system 
may be well taught in an hour with this apparatus. 

Without it, to attempt to convey a clear idea of the new 
values, by numerical comparison with the old, is a tedious 
and unsatisfactory task, expensive of time, and productive 
of no permanent results. It gives us numbers, but no 
ideas. 

We should have also at hand a hollow tin deciliter, 
which, filled with water, will give us the hectogram ; a 
hollow centiliter, to illustrate the decagram ; and a hollow 
millimeter or hollow centimeter cube to illustrate, filled 
with water, the gram or unit of weight. (See Chart.) 

The "School Meter" is a square piece of wood, one 
meter long, three centimeters wide, and three centimeters 
thick. One side is left clear, without division marks, and 
represents the meter length. The second side is sub- 
divided into ten equal parts or centimeters, painted in 
colors alternating light and dark. (See chart.) 

The third side shows, in addition to the decimeters, the 
further decimal subdivisions of centimeters, the first light- 
colored decimeter being divided up into centimeters alter- 
nating black and white ; and finally the first white centi- 
meter is again subdivided into alternating black and white 
millimeters. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 57 

The fourth and last side is divided like the regular meter 
used in actual measurements. 

By means of this device a large class may be instructed 
at once, as the colors and peculiar arrangement of the sub- 
divisions allow even the smallest of them to be distinctly 
seen from a great distance. 

The various sides of the meter may be explained in 
succession, beginning with that without divisions, and 
stating that it represents the unit of length a distance 
equal to about one ten-millionth part of the quadrant of a 
meridian, explaining the principles of its subdivision, its 
relation to the measures of weight, volume and capacity, 
and comparing it with various linear magnitudes in the 
room, as, for instance, the height of the table, the breadth 
of the door and windows, etc. 

In the same way the remaining three sides may be ex- 
plained in succession, and afterwards the rest of the ap- 
paratus may be similarly treated. 

The multiples of the meter may be represented by 
cords, with divisions a meter apart, indicated by knots 
painted black for greater distinctness. 



58 THE METEIC SYSTEM OP 



OETHOGEAPHY AND NOMENGLATUBE. 



The English spelling for gram, meter, and liter has been 
adopted. 

First, Because it is according to the English translation 
of original Greek and Latin words. 

Second, Because it is simpler and shorter. 

Third, It retains the French and German pronunci- 
ation. 

Fourth, The Germans have made a similar modification 
in the French spelling. 

In regard to names, it seems better to adopt those 
already in use among other people, for the sake of uni- 
formity, and also because when one word has two mean- 
ings it is certain to create confusion. If we should adopt, 
for instance, the length of the meter, and retain the name 
"yard," we should always feel obliged to state whether we 
referred to the " old " or the " neiv " yard. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



59 



TABLE I. 

Metric measures legalized in the United States, with 
their equivalents now in use. 

MEASURES OF LENGTH. 



Metric Denominations. 


Values. 


Abbrevi- 
ations. 


Equivalents legalized 
by Congress in denom- 
inations now in use. 


Myriameter . . . 


10,000 


m. 


Mm. 


6.2137 miles. 


Kilometer .... 
Hectometer . . . 


1,000 
100 


m. 
m. 


Km. 
Hm. 


0.62137 " 

or 328D ft. 10 in. 

328 ft. 1 in. 


Dekameter . . . 


10 


m. 


Dm. 


393.7 in. 


Meter 


1 


m. 


m. 


39.37 


Decimeter .... 


.1 


m. 


dm. 


3.937 " 


Centimeter . . . 


.01 


m. 


cm. 


0.3937 " 


Millimeter .... 


.001 


m. 


mm. 


0.03937" 



MEASURES OF SURFACE. 



Metrical Denominations. 


Abbrevi- 
ations. 


Values. 


Equivalents legalized 
by Congress in denom- 
inations now in use. 




Ha. 
a. 
ca. 


10,000 sq. m. 

100 sq. m. 

1 sq. m. 


2.471 acres. 
119.6 sq. yds. 
1550 sq. in. 



60 



THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 



MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 



Metric Names. 


Abbrevi- 
ations. 


No. of 
Liters. 


Dry Measure. 


Liquid or "Wine 
Measure. 


Kiloliter or Stere 


Kl. st. 


1000 


1.308 cu. yds. 


264.17 gals. 


Hectoliter . . . 


HI. 


100 


2bu. 3.35 pks. 


26.417 " 


Dekaliter . . . 


Dl. 


10 


9.08 qts. 


2.6417 " 


Liter .... 


1. 


1 


0.098 qt. 


1.0567 qts. 


Deciliter . . . 


dl. 


.1 


6.1022 cu. in. 


0.845 gill. 


Centiliter . . . 


cl. 


.01 


0.6102 " " 


0.338 fid. oz. 


Milliliter . . . 


ml. 


.001 


0.061 " " 


0.27 fld. dr. ' 



WEIGHTS. 



Metric Denominations and Values. 



Names. 



Millier or Tonneau 
Quintal . . . 
Myriagram . . 
Kilogram or Kilo 
Hectogram . . 
Dekagram . . 
Gram .... 
Decigram . . 
Centigram . . 
Milligram . . 



Abbrevi- 
ations. 



M. or T. 

Q. 

Mg. 

Kg. 
Hg. 
Dg. 

g. 

dg. 
eg. 
mg. 



No. of Grams. 



1,000,000 

100,000 

10,000 

1,000 

100 

10 

1 



.1 

.01 
.001 



"Weight of what 

quantity of "Water 

at maximum. 



1 cu. meter. 

1 hectoliter. 

10 liters. 

1 liter. 

1 deciliter. 

10 cu. centim. 
I it it 

.1 '* '* 

10 cu. millim. 
^ (i ii 



Equivalent in de- 
nominations now 
in use. 
Avoirdupois 
weight. 



2204.6 lbs. 
220.46 " 

22.046 " 
2.2046 " 
3.5274 oz. 
0.3527 " 

15.432 grs. 
1.5432 " 
0.1543 " 
0.0154 " 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



61 



TABLE II. 



ACRE = 40.46710 Ares 

ANKER = 4.54346 Dekaliters 

ARE == 0.03885 Rood 

" = 0.02471 Acre 

" =a 3.95383 Squaro Rods 

BARREL (U. S. Wine) = 1.19259 Hectoliters 

" (Imp. Wine) = 1.G3564 " 

" (Beer) = 1.C6232 « 

BUSHEL (U. S. Dry) = 0.35240 " 

" « " =35.240 Liters 

" (Imp.) =36.3233 " 

BUTT or PIPE (U. S. Wine) = 477.036 Liters 

" " " (Imp. Wine) =490.693 " 

CENTIARE = (1 sq. meter) = 10.76430 Square Feet 
" " " = 1.19603 Squaro Yards 

CENTIGRADE 1° = 1 .8° Fahrenheit 

CENTIGRAM = 0. 15432 Grain Troy 

" = 0.00564 Dram Avoirdupois 

CENTILITER = . 08 452 Gill (U. S.) 

CENTIMETER = 0.39371 Inch 

" = 3.93708 Lines 

" (sq.)= 0.15500 Square Inch 

" (cu.)= 0.06103 Cubic Inch 

" " = 16.22821 Minims 

" " = 0.27047 Fluid Drachm 

" " = 0.03381 " Ounce 

CENT = 5 . 18 Centimes 

CHALDRON = 1.12778 Kiloliters. 

CORD =s 3.62436 Cubic Meters 

CORD FOOT = 0.45304 «« '* 

DECIMETER = 0.32809 Foot 

" = 3.9370 Inches 

" (sq.) = 15.50059 Square Inches 

" " = 0.10764 Square Foot 

" (cu.)= 61.02705 Cubic Inches 

" " = 0.03532 " Foot 

DECILITER = 0.84522 Gill (U.S.) 

" = 0.21130 Pint (U.S.) 

". = 0.10565 Quart (U. S.) 

" = 0.17325 Beer Pint 

" s= 0.18160 Dry ** 



Logarithms. 



1.607102 
0. 0573867 

— 2.9949767 

— 2.3928727 
0.5DC0180 
0.0764911 
9.213C877 
0.2207146 

— 1.5470359 
1.5470359 
1.5601853 
2.G7S5511 
2.G90S098 
1.03198579 
0.0777420 

— 1.1884222 
—3.7512791 

— 2.9269595 

— 1.5951764 
0.5951742 

— 1.1903317 
— 2.7S55434 

1.2102703 

— 1.4321191 

— 2.5290452 
0.7143298 
0.0512252 
0.5592315 

— 1.6561365 

— 1.5159930 

— 1.5951654 
1.1903485 

— 1.0319737 
1.7855225 

— 2.5480207 
— 1.926PG98 

— 1.3248995 

— 1.0238695 

— 1.2386732 

— 1.9251158 



62 



THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 



TABLE II. — Continued. 



Logarithms. 



DECIGRAM 



DEKALITER = 



DEKAMETER = 



DIME 
DOLLAR 



0.05643 Drain Avoirdupois .... 

1.54323 Grains Troy 

0.06430 Penny weight Troy .... 

1.13497 Pecks 

0.24063 Firkin 

0.12228 Runlet , 

0.22010 Anker 

1.98842 Rods 

= 32.80899 Feet 

= 10.93633 Yards 

(sq.) = 119.60332 Square Yards 

" = 0.02471 Acre = (lAre), 

" = 3.95383 Square Rods " 

(cu.) =1308.0215 Cubic Yards 

= 0.51780 Franc 

= 5.1826 Francs 

DRACHM (Apoth.) =3.88794 Grains 

" (Fluid) =3.69727 Cubic Centimeters. 

" (Avoirdupois) = 1.77185 Liters 

EAGLE =51.826 Francs 

FAHRENHEIT 1°= 0.555° Centigrade % 

1.82877 Meters 

4.15579 Dekaliters 

0.41557 Hectoliter 

3.69727 Cubic Centimeters 

29.57812 " " 

0.30479 Meter 

3 . 04794 Decimeters 

30.47944 Centimeters 

0.09290 Square Meter 

9.28996 " Decimeters 

0.02832 Cubic Meter or Stere .. 

28.31531 Cubic Decimeters 

. 45304 Cubic Meter or Stere . . 

0.19295 Dollar 

2.01164 Hectometers 

" = 0.20116 Kilometer 

GALLON (U. S. Wine) = 3 . 7852 Liters 

" (Imp. Wine) = 4.54346 " 

" (Beer) = 4.61754 " 

GILL (U. S. Wine) =0.11831 " 

" .(Imp- Wine) =0.14198 " 

GRAIN (Troy) =64.79895 Milligrams 



FATHOM = 

FIRKIN = 

*< — 

FLUID DRACHM = 

OUNCE = 

FOOT = 



" (sq.) 
« ii 

" (cu.) 
a tt 

" (cord) 
FRANC 
FURLONG 



— 2 


— 2 


— 1 

— 1 

— 1 


1 
1 

2 

—2 

3 

— 1 

0. 
0. 
0. 

1. 

0. 
0. 

— 1. 

0. 

1. 

— 1. 

0. 

1. 

— 2. 
0. 

.2. 
1. 

— 1. 

— 1. 
0. 

— 1. 
0. 
0. 
0. 

— 1. 

— 1. 
1 



.7515101 

.1884278 

.8082110 

.0549844 

.3813498 

.0873554 

.34262 

.2985081 

.5159930 

.0388716 

.077432 

.3928727 

.5960180 

.1166143 

.7141620 

.7145477 

.5897195 

.5677811 

.2484269 

.7145477 

.2611852 

,6186546 

.6186546 

.5678810 

.4709702 

.48-30007 

.4830063 

.483006 

.9680157 

,9670137 

.4520932 

4510212 

6561365 

2851448 

3035502 

3035416 

5780888 

6573867 

6644106 

0720215 

1512272 

8115683 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, 



63 



TABLE II. — Continued. 



GRAIN (Troy) = 



GRAM 



HAND 



HECTOGRAM = 
HECTOLITER = 



6.47989 Centigrams 

. 64798 Decigram 

0.06480 Gram 

15.43235 Grains Troy 

. 64301 Pennyweight 

0.56438 Dram 

0.77102 Scruple 

0.03527 Ounce Avoirdupois .... 

0.10160 Meter 

1.01598 Decimeters 

10.15981 Centimeters 

3 . 21507 Ounces Troy 

0.83851 Barrel (U. S.) 

0.62888 Tierce " 

0.41926 Hogshead" 

0.20963 Pipe " 

1.04814 Tuns " 

0.61138 Imperial Barrel 

0.40759 " Hogshead 

0.2G202 . " Puncheon 

0.20379 « Pipe 

0.10190 " Tun 

1.20314 Kilderkins 

0.60157 Beer Barrel 

0.38672 " Hogshead 

2.83742 Bushels 

0.35468 Dry Quarter 

0.49711 Furlong 

" = 19.88440 Rods 

" = 109 .36420 Yards 

" =328.09260 Feet 

« (sq.)= 0.24711 Acre < 

HECTARE = . 00386 Square Mile 

" = 2.47040 Acres , 

HEWN TON = 1.41577 Cubic Meters 

HOGSHEAD (U. S. Wine) = 238.518 Liters 

" (Imp. Wine) = 245 .34673 " 

« (Beer) =258.58236 " 

HUNDRED WEIGHT (100 lbs.) =45.35926 Kilogs. 
" " (112 lbs.) =50.80238 " . 

INCH = 2.53995 Centimeters 

« ( S q.) = 6.45136 Square Centimeters.... . 
« (cu.X = 16.38617 Cubic " 



HECTOMETER = 



Logarithms. 



0.8115683 

— 1.8115683 

— 2.8115683 
1.1884334 

— 1.8082177 

— 1.7515716 

— 1.8874035 

— 2.5474055 

— 1.0068937 
0.0068937 
1.0068937 
0.5071904 

— 1.9235082 

— 1.7985678 

— 1.6224834 

— 1.3214534 
0.02041930 

— 1.7863112 

— 1.6102235 

— 1.4183344 

— 1.3081829 

— 1.0081742 
0.0803161 

— 1.7792862 

— 1.5873966 
0.4529236 

— 1.5498367 

— 1.6964525 
2.2985124 
2.0388743 
2.5159969 

— 1.392S903 

— 3.5865873 
0.3927673 
0.1509928 
2.3775229 
2.3896037 
2.4125989 
1.6566663 
1.7058842 
0.4048251 
0.8096512 
1.2144809 



64 



THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 



TABLE II. — Continued. 





Logarithms. 


KILDERKIN 


> = 
= 2 


0.83116 Hectoliter 


— 1.9196846 


KILOGRAM 
tt 


0.08818 Quarter (25 lbs.) 


0.3433337 
— 2.9453701 


tt 


0.07874 " (28 lbs.) 


— 2.8961954 


tt 
tt 

tt 


0.022046 Hundred Weight (100 lbs.). 
0.019684 « « (112 lbs.). 
2 . 67923 Pounds Troy 


— 2.3433298 

— 2.2941134 
0.4270099 


KILOLITER 


. 88670 Chaldron 


— 1.9477767 


KILOMETER 


0.62138 Mile 


— 1.7933573 


«i 


0.20713 League 


— 1.3162430 


LEAGUE 


4 . 82794 Kilometers 


0.6837619 


LINE 


. 25400 Centimeter 


— 1.4048337 


LITER 


8.451219 Gills 


0.9269693 


tt 


2.11305 Pints 


0.3249098 


tt 


1.05652 Quarts 


0.0238775 


tt 


. 26413 Gallon 


— 1.4218177 


tt 


7.04309 Imperial Gills 


0.8477639 


tt 


1.76077 " Pints 


0.2457026 


tt 


0.88039 " Quart 


— 1.944675] 


tt 


0.22010 " Gallon 


— 1.3426200 


tt 


. 02838 Bushel (U. S. Dry) 


— 2.4530124 


METER 


3 . 28090 Feet 


0.5159930 


tt 


9.84270 Hands 


0.9931142 


tt 


1.09363 Yards 


0.0388703 


tt 


0.54681 Fathom 


— 1.7378364 


(sq.] 
tt tt 


1 . 19603 Square Yards 


0.0777423 


10.76440 Square Feet 


1.0319857 


tt tt 


35.31658 Cubic Feet.. 


1.5479788 


2.20729 Cord " 


0.3438614 


tt tt 


1 .30802 Cubic Yards 


0.1166177 


tt ft 


0.88291 Round Ton 


— 1.9459164 


ft if 


. 84087 Shipping Ton 


— 1.9247289 


tt ft 


0.70633 Hewn Ton 


— 1.8480077 


tt tt 


0.27591 Cord 


— 1.4407674 


MILE 


1 . 6093 1 Kilometers 


0.2066397 


« (sq.) 
MILL 


58.98944 Hectares 


2.4132822 


0.518 Centime 


— 1.7143298 


MILLIGRAM 


0.015432 Grain 


— 2.1884222 


MILLIMETER 


0.39370 Inch 


— 1.5950551 


" (sq.) 
" (cu.) 
MILLILITER 




— 3.1903317 


0.00061 Cubic " 


— 4.7853298 


0.00845 Gill 


— 3.9268567 


MINIM 


0.06162 Cubic Centimeter 


— 2*. 7897217 


MYRIAGRAM 




1.4270096 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



65 



TABLE II. — Continued. 



MYRIAMETER = 6.21382 Miles 

OUNCE (Avoirdupois) = 28 .34954 Grams 

" (Troy) =31.10349 " 

" (Fluid) =29.5(812 " 

PECK = 0.88108 Dekaliter 

PENNYWEIGHTS = 1.55517 Grams 

PERCH = 0.50291 Dekametcr 

PINT (U. S.) = 0.47325 Liter 

" (Imp.) =0.56793 " 

" (Beer) = 0.57719 " 

" (Dry) = 0.55067 " 

PIPE (U. S.) = 4 . 77036 Hectoliters 

" (Imp.) = 4.90693 " 

POUNDS (Avoirdupois) = 0.45359 Kilogram 

" (Troy and Apoth.) = 0.37324 " 

PUNCHEON = 3.81650 Hectoliters 

QUART (U. S.) =0.9465 Liter 

" (Imp.) = 1.13586 " 

" (Beer) = 1.15438 " 

" (Dry) = 1.10135 " 

QUARTER (25 lbs.) = 11.33981 Kilograms 

" (28 lbs.) =12.70059 « 

k (Dry) = 2.81946 « 

QUINTAL (100 Kilog.) = 267.92273 Pounds Troy 

ROD = 0,50291 Dekameter 

ROD SQ. = 0.25292 Are 

ROOD =10.11677 f* 

ROUND TON = 1.13261 Cu. Meters... 

RUNLET % = 8.17822 Dekaliters'. 

SCRUPLE ' = 1.29598 Grams 

SHIPPING TON = 1. 18924 Cu. Meters 

STERB ,(1 Cu. Meter) = 35.31658 Cu. Feet. , 

TIERCE = 1.59012 Hectoliters 

TON (2,000 lbs.) = 0.90719 Ton 

" (2,240 lbs.) = 1.01605 « 

" (1,000 Kilogs.) = 1.10231 " (2,000 lbs.).. 

" " " ) = 0.9844 « (2,240 lbs.).. 

" (Shipping) = 1.18924 Cu. Meters 

" (Round) = 1.13261 " 

TUN (U. S. Wine) = 9.54072 Hectoliters 

" (Imp.) = 9.81387 " 

YARD = 0.91438 Meter 

" (Sq.) s= 0.83610 Sq. Meter 

" (Cu.) as 0.76451 Cu.Meter 



Logarithms. 




1 
1 
1 

— 1 


— 1 

— 1 

— 1 

— 1 

— 1 



— 1 

— 1 



— 1 





1 
1 


2 

— 1 

— 1 
1 





1 



— 1 




— 1, 

0, 

0, 
0. 
0. 

— 1, 

— 1, 
— 1, 



.7933587 

.4525457 

.4928093 

.4709704 

.9440153 

.1917779 

.7014903 

.6750906 

.7542948 

.7613188 

.7408914 

.6789151 

, 6908098 

.6566635 

.5719882 

.5816653 

.9761206 

.0543113 

.0623489 

.0419253 

.0546068 

.1038243 

.4501660 

.4270095 

.7014903 

.4029832 

.00504187 

.0530804 

.9126587 

.1125987 

.0752697 

.5479785 

,2014271 

.9576983 

.00681508 

.0423037 

,9930878 

,0752697 

.0530804 

,9795811 

,9918403 

,9611267 

,9222582 

,8833832 



CH cfi!rU?/ Cra l^ NfE ' r, *,L C WEIGHTS AMD MEASURES. EXACT 



r^JP DKA ™A^°1S^ 0S AT WASHINGTON. 




COPYRIGHT SECURE 



HALF-METER, OR, 30 C£NXI(ytEXER,S. 



J. V. PUTNAM Dl L 



